중앙데일리

Paju to host DMZ film festival

‘The DMZ will be remembered for all time as a symbol of reconciliation and exchange.’

Aug 12,2010

The DMZ Korean International Documentary Festival will be held in a border town next month, screening 74 documentaries from around the world with the themes of peace, family and the environment, organizers said Tuesday.

The nascent festival, which was launched last year, will be held Sept. 9-13 in Paju, just below the demilitarized zone separating South and North Korea.

“Peace” by Japanese filmmaker Kazuhiro Soda, which follows the daily lives of residents and stray cats in the city of Okayama to show the remnants of past Japanese militarism, will open the event.

Its international competitive section has 13 films vying for the grand prize, with topics addressing family, war, disease and the socially marginalized.

Six of them are from Asia, five from Europe and two from North America.

In another competitive section, eight homegrown entries will run for the Best Korean Documentary award.

Overall, 74 documentaries from 35 countries will be screened during the five-day event.

“The DMZ will be remembered for all time as a symbol of reconciliation and exchange,” Kim Moon-su, governor of Gyeonggi and festival director, said in a press conference.

The event will also screen films about Latin America, the unification of East and West Germany in 1990 and the Korean War that broke out 60 years ago in addition to those focusing on other subjects.